The Council of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law, NBA-SBL and the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, have said that both organisations will proceed to collaborate in order to strengthen ease of doing trade.
While Speaking at one-day stakeholders’ discussion forum between the CAC and the NBA-SBL, AyuliJemide, vice-chair NBA-SBL said the Section, which is the specialisation arm of the NBA, will constantly have interaction with the CAC since the CAC is the corporate house where all of the businesses are registered and for trade lawyers, it is the hub for businesses.
He also said that beyond the collaboration, he was hopeful that a new Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) will deliver adjustments that will help the ease of doing business, as he expects both organisations to engage more on the best way to be sure that the law is not only signed but the intent of the legislation is put into operation.
Speaking at the Section’s expectations from the CAC, he said, “The need to go digital for CAC is urgent for us and has been there for several years. We have been talking about deploying technology to enhance efficiency and it has been a very slow-moving train but with the current registrar general (RG) and the new chairman, we see a stronger will to get achieve this and to cross the finish line.
“The NBA-SBL will engage and collaborate more with the commission, to try to raise money by way of grants and endowments to achieve these objectives on a private basis and see how we can roll this out.”
Also speaking at the event, Ademola Seriki, chairman of CAC, said the NBA-SBL and the CAC are developing enormous awareness for the general public.He lamented that a large number of people meddle with files inside the CAC office and other people level accusing fingers at CAC, stressing that it is high time both bodies created consciousness so that people can know the importance and place of the legislation.
Seni Adio, SAN, Chairman of the NBA-SBL, who spoke earlier on reform projects of the NBA-SBL stated, “We are very much involved with respect to the enactment of the Companies and Allied Matters Act. It is a very revolutionary bill and once that bill is signed by Mr President it will further help ease of doing business in Nigeria.
“The NBA-SBL has always been at the forefront in trying to enhance the proficiency of commercial lawyers in Nigeria. SBL advocates for lawyers to become specialists, so that people become experts in their given areas of work and can provide legal services efficiency with expertise in the commercial space.”
Speaking all through a fireplace chat with the vice-chair of the NBA-SBL, the registrar common of the CAC, Garba Abubakar, said since he took over as the registrar general, he has identified areas that require pressing reforms.
“We are currently doing a review of our checklist and guidelines to make it more business-friendly and to remove unnecessary bottlenecks that slow down our processes and procedures. So, what we have done is that most of the requirements that were alien to the law have been removed.”
Also speaking at the occasion, the immediate past chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law, (NBA-SBL), Olumide Akpata, mentioned that the continuous collaboration between CAC and the NBA-SBL is vital to bettering industrial legislation practice in Nigeria.
On the targets of NBA-SBL, he said the SBL has continued to fortify the observe of commercial law in Nigeria and to make sure that business legal professionals are competent and local legal professionals are ready to do the work in the community.
